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Archive of "S’pore-Stanford research tie-up bid", The Straits Times, 10 October 1985
=Scan of article & page= =Editable text of article= S’pore-Stanford research tie-up bid By KONG SOOK CHIN SINGAPORE is working towards a tie-up with Stanford University of California in the field of research and the use of anti-viral drugs on Hepatitis B and Aids. The affiliation may come about in January next year and will involve leading authorities on anti-viral drugs, such as Prof Tom Merigan of Stanford University. Associate Prof Oon Chong Jin, who is chairman of the National Scientific Committee on Hepatitis and Related Disorders, said arrangements for the tie-up were being handled by the Health Ministry. Prof Oon said yesterday that the anti-viral drugs would include “new generation Interferon". The successful use of anti-viral drugs, he said, could help stem the spread of Hepatitis B infection and the number of carriers by at least two-thirds Trials on the use of an anti viral drug on Hepatitis B will begin soon at Singapore General Hospital. There is as yet no cure or even a vaccine for Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Various drugs are used in trials overseas to fight the disease. Some are antiviral drugs and others are drugs which help to stimulate the patient’s natural defence mechanism. "Singapore has contingency plans" Work on drugs for Hepatitis B and Aids The Aids-related virus, HTLV-m. progressively destroys the Aids victim’s immune system, making him susceptible to various infections and complications. In severe cases, death results Prof Oon said that there were contingency plans in Singapore to deal with Aids should there be a need Groundwork for the plans were laid some time ago. He declined to elaborate. According to him, Singapore has the capacity to screen for exposure to the Aids virus because of the anti-Hepatitis B programme. He explained that hospital staff, such as laboratory technicians who had been trained to do Herpatitis B screening, could use those methods for screening exposure to the Aids related virus. Prof Oon, of the National University of Singapore's Department of Medicine, said that Aids and Hepatitis B had similar methods of transmission He stressed that sexual promiscuity was mainly responsible for the spread of both diseases. Surveys show that male and female prostitutes here have high rates of Hepatitis B infection. 88 per cent in the male group and 64 per cent in the female group. Prof Oon is an adviser to the World Health Organisation regional seminar on cancer, now on at the Regional Language Centre. =See also= *Archive of "Three in S’pore found with Aids-linked virus", The Straits Times, 10 April 1985 *Archive of "Aids virus: Doctor who 'found it'", The Sunday Times, 14 April 1985 *Archive of "Aids on ‘must report’ list", The Straits Times, 17 April 1985 *Archive of "Special lab to do Aids tests soon", The Straits Times, 18 May 1985 *Archive of "Man with Aids related virus in hospital", The Straits Times, 21 July 1985 *Archive of "Ministry steps up Aids drive", The Straits Times, 5 September 1985 *Archive of "Aids: 20,000 cleared", The Straits Times, 29 November 1985 *Archive of "Screening tests likely to uncover more Aids carriers", The Straits Times, 1 May 1986 *Archive of "Aids claims first victim here", The Straits Times, 11 April 1987 *Archive of "Fear of Aids pushes up condom sales", The Straits Times, 19 April 1987 *Archive of "Govt dental clinics phasing out boiling", The Straits Times, 1 October 1987 *HIV/AIDS in Singapore's LGBT community *Paddy Chew *Avin Tan *Ajmal Khan *Calvin Tan *Adrian Tyler =References= *[Sook Chin, "Aids on ‘must report’ list", The Straits Times, 17 April 1985[]. =Acknowledgements= This article was written by Roy Tan.